Paper Reading #32: Taking advice from intelligent systems: the double-edged sword of explanations

I did Paper Reading #16, so I choose this one to skip.

Paper Reading #31: Identifying emotional states using keystroke dynamics

References
Identifying emotional states using keystroke dynamics by Clayton Epp, Michael Lippold, and Regan L. Mandryk.  Presented at the CHI '11 Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems.

Author Bios

• Clayton Epp is currently a software engineer for a private consulting company and holds a master's degree in CHI from the University of Saskatchewan.
• Michael Lippold is currently a masters student at the University of Saskatchewan.
• Regan L. Mandryk  is an Assistant Professor in the Interaction Lab in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Saskatchewan.

Summary

• Hypothesis
• It is possible to determine a person's emotional state based on their keystrokes.
• Methods 
• The researchers used a software program to collect keystroke patterns of the participants.  Based on the user's level of activity, the program prompted the user with an emotional state questionnaire and another short piece of text to type.  Users with fewer than 50 responses were eliminated on the basis that they didn't provide enough variance in response to be useful.   The raw data collected included key press and release events, codes for each key, and a timestamp on key events.
• Results
• The researchers used undersampling on many of the models to help make the data more meaningful in terms of detectable levels of emotion.  They found that two of their "tired" models performed most accurately with the most consistency, and that models utilizing the undersampling performed better overall.
• Contents
• In this paper the researchers describe how minute measurements of a person's keystrokes can be calibrated to give a reasonably accurate representation of their current emotional state.  They discuss some of the related work in human emotion and computing, and go on to describe their experiment process in detail.  They also describe some of the ways that this paper might be expanded upon in the future.

Discussion
I found this paper extremely interesting and was pleased to see that they were able to come up with a fairly consistent model for their research.  They mentioned that their results might be improved upon in a laboratory setting with elicited emotions, and I agree.  Their data was a little bit weak simply due to the nature of the study.  However, I feel that they accomplished their overall goal and I am quite convinced of the results.

Paper Reading #30: Life "modes" in social media

References
 Life "modes" in social media by Fatih Kursat Ozenc and Shelly D. Farnham.   Presented at CHI '11 Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems.


Author Bios 

• Fatih Kursat Ozenc is at Carnegie Mellon University and holds a PhD in Interaction Design.
• Shelly D. Farnham is currently a researcher at Microsoft Research and holds a PhD from the University of Washington

Summary

• Hypothesis
• People organize their social worlds based on life 'modes' and social sites have not sufficiently addressed how to help users improve their experiences in this area.
• Methods
• The researchers recruited 16 potential participants after an extensive screening process and asked them to model their lives.  Specifically, their lives at present and with a focus on how they spend time and who they spend it with.  The participants then went through their maps with different colored markers, noting how they communicate between each node.
• Results
• The majority of participants drew their life maps as social meme maps, while  a few others focused more on a timeline style.  The researchers found that participants chose communication channels based on closeness and different areas of their lives.  Specifically, the closer they were to someone, the more they used a mix of multiple communication channels.  Additionally, the amount of segmentation that participants wished to maintain between certain facets of their lives varied greatly with age, personality, and cultural differences.
• Contents
• This paper seeks to explore how we manage and compartmentalize the different social circles in our lives.  By looking at how people classify different levels of interaction and comparing it to the various social channels used to maintain communication, the researchers hoped to gain a better view of how social networking in general can be adapted and improved to better cater to the structure of our social lives.

Discussion
I found this paper fascinating and highly relevant.  I feel the authors were convincing with their research findings, but I would have also liked to see the results presented in a more measurable way.  Perhaps the ambiguity was simply a necessary part of the research, particularly given the topic of study and the sheer variability between participants and social norms.

Paper Reading #29: Usable gestures for blind people: understanding preference and performance

References
Usable gestures for blind people: understanding preference and performance by Shaun K. Kane, Jacob O. Wobbrock, and Richard E. Ladner
 Published in the CHI '11 Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems.

Author Bios

• Shaun K. Kane is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland and holds a PhD from the University of Washington.
• Jacob O. Wobbrock is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Washington.
• Richard E. Ladner is currently a Professor at the University of Washington and holds a PhD in Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Summary

• Hypothesis
• Blind people have different needs and preferences for touch based gestures than sighted people.  This paper aims to explore exactly what these preferences may be.
• Methods 
• In the first study both blind and sighted people were asked to invent a few of their own gestures that might be used to interact and conduct standard tasks on a computing device.  Because visual results of commands would not be visible to all participants, the experimenter read a description of the action and result of each command.  Each participant invented two gestures for each command and then assessed them based on usability, appropriateness, etc.
• The second study was more focused on determining whether blind people simply perform gestures differently or actually prefer to use different gestures.  In this study all participants performed the same set of standardized gestures.  The experimenter described the gesture and its intended purpose, and the participants tried to replicate it based on his instruction.
• Results
• In the first study the experimenters found that, on average, a blind person's gesture contains more strokes than a sighted person's.  Additionally, blind people were also slightly more likely to make use of the edge of the tablet when positioning their gestures, as well as being more likely to use multi-touch gestures.
• In the second study, there was no significant measure of difference in easiness between blind and sighted people.  It was noted that blind people tended to make significantly larger gestures than sighted people, although the aspect ratio appeared consistent between the two groups.  Additionally, blind participants took about twice as long to perform the gestures, and their lines were often more "wavy" than those of sighted participants
• Contents
• This paper makes steps towards bridging the touch screen accessibility gap for blind people.  After discussing some of the previous work done in the field, the authors describe their two experiments designed to measure exactly how blind people's gesture preferences might be different from sighted people's.   The findings are, overall, reasonably predictable in terms of differences between area of the gesture and speed to perform, and the results suggest new design guidelines for more accessible touch interfaces.

Discussion
I thought that this was a very interesting study and I think the authors did a great job of achieving their stated goals.  They performed well-thought-out tests and presented their findings in a very convincing and organized manner.  I would like to see them expand on their work with accessibility in interfaces, perhaps focusing on other disabilities such as general motor impairment. 

Paper Reading #28: Experimental analysis of touch-screen gesture designs in mobile environments

References
Experimental analysis of touch-screen gesture designs in mobile environments by Andrew Bragdon, Eugene Nelson, Yang Li, and Ken Hinckle.  Published in the CHI '11 Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems.

Author Bios

• Andrew Bragdon is currently a PhD student at Brown University.
• Eugene Nelson is currently a PhD student at Brown University.
• Yang Li is a researcher at Google and holds a PhD from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
• Ken Hinckle is a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research and has a PhD from the University of Virginia.

Summary

• Hypothesis
• Bezel and marked-based gestures can offer faster, more accurate performance for mobile touch-screen interaction that is less demanding on user attention.
• Methods 
• 15 participants performed a series of tasks designed to model varying levels of distraction and measure their interaction with the mobile device.  They studied two major motor activities, sitting and walking, and paired them with three levels of distraction, ranging from no distraction at all to attention-saturating distraction.  The participants were given a pre-study questionnaire and instruction on how to complete the tasks in addition to a demonstration.
• Results
• Bezel marks had the lowest mean completion time, though there was no significant performance difference between soft button and hard button mark's mean.  There was also no significant difference between soft button's and bezel's paths, but there was a noticeable increase in mean completion time  between bezel paths and hard button paths.  Bezel marks and soft buttons performed similarly in direct, and with various distraction types bezel marks significantly and consistently outperformed soft buttons.
• Contents
• This paper examines the user interaction with soft buttons, hard buttons, and gestures and observes how distractions affect these interactions.  The results of their experiments indicate that direct touch gestures can produce performance and accuracy that is comparable with soft buttons when the user's attention is focused, and actually improve performance in the presence of distractions.  They found that bezel-initiated gestures were the fastest and most preferred by users, and that mark-based gestures were faster and more accurate to perform than free-form path gestures.

Discussion
I believe the authors accomplished their goal of understanding how distractions can play a role in how users prefer to interact with their devices, and I think that they did a good job of covering all of the bases and exploring a wide avenue of possibilities.  I think that their methodology was thorough and sound, and I have nothing to criticize about this paper.

Paper Reading #27: Sensing cognitive multitasking for a brain-based adaptive user interface

References
Sensing cognitive multitasking for a brain-based adaptive user interface by Erin Treacy Solov, Francine Lalooses, Krysta Chauncey, Douglas Weaver, Margarita Parasi, Matthias Scheutz, Angelo Sassaroli, Sergio Fantini, Paul Schermerhorn, Audrey Girouard, Robert J.K. Jacob 

Author Bios

• Erin Treacy Solov is a postdoctoral fellow in the Humans and Automation Lab (HAL) at MIT. 
• Francine Laloosesis a PhD candidate at Tufts University and has a Bachelor's and Master's degree from Boston University
• Krysta Chauncey is a post doctorate researcher at Tufts University
• Douglas Weaver has a doctorate degree from Tufts University
• Margarita Parasi is working on a Master's degree at Tufts University
• Angelo Sassaroli is a research assistant professor at Tufts University and has a PhD from the University of Electro-Communication
• Sergio Fantini is a professor at Tufts University in the Biomedical Engineering Department
• Paul Schermerhorn is a post doctorate researcher at Tufts University and has studied at Indiana University
• Audrey Girouard is an assistant professor at The Queen's University and has a PhD from Tufts University
• Robert J.K. Jacob is a professor at Tufts University

Summary

• Hypothesis
• Cognitive multitasking is a common element in daily life, and the researchers' human-robot system can be useful in recognizing these multitasking tasks and assisting with their execution.
• Methods 
• The first experiment was designed to highlight three conditions: delay, dual-task, and branching.  The participants interacted with a simulation of a robot on Mars, sorting rocks.  Based on the pattern/order of rock classification, measure data related to each of the three conditions listed above.  
• The second experiment was used to determine whether they could distinguish specific variations of the branching task.  Branching was divided into to categories: Random branching and predictive branching, and the experiment followed the same basic procedure as the first experiment.  However, here there were only two experimental conditions.
• Results
• In the first experiment, statistical analysis was performed and all variables were tested for normal distribution.  There was statistical significance in response time between delay and dual, delay and branching, but not between dual and branching.  Correlations between accuracy and response time were not significant, and they did not find a learning effect. 
• As in the first experiment, the second experiment also collected data about response time and accuracy and statistical analysis was performed.  There was no statistically significant difference in response time between random and predictive branching, nor was there a significant difference in accuracy.  Additionally, there was no correlation between accuracy and response time for random branching, but there was a correlation under predictive branching.
• Contents
• This paper describes a study done to assess cognitive multitasking, and how the human-robot system can have an effect on this process.  It describes some of the related work that has been done in the field and explains how this paper expands on some of the pre-existing work.  It then goes on to describe the experiments carried out to test the effectiveness of the hypothesis.

Discussion

• While I feel that this research was not as resoundingly successful as the researchers had hoped, it does provide a solid stepping stone into further research.  To that end, I think that the authors did achieve their goal.  I think they were very thorough in their research, but they might have gotten more solid results with a larger test subject base.

Paper Reading #26: Embodiment in brain-computer interaction

References 
Embodiment in brain-computer interaction by Kenton O’Hara, Abigail Sellen, Richard Harper.  
Author Bios

• Kenton O’Hara is a Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research and works in the Socio Digital Systems Group.
• Abigail Sellen is a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research and holds a PhD from The University of California, San Diego
• Richard Harper is a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research and holds a PhD from Manchester.

Summary

• Hypothesis
• There is a need to better understand the potential for brain-computer interaction, and the authors assert that the study of the whole body interaction is important rather than just the brain.
• Methods 
• The study made use of the MindFlex game, a device that uses EEC technology to measure electrical signals in the brain.  As brain activity increases the fan blows more strongly, and similarly as brain activity decreases, so does the fan.  The participants took the game home for a week to play in a relaxed setting and asked to record their gameplay.  The videos were analyzed by the researchers and focused on the physical manifestation of behavior around the game, looking at bodily action, gestures, and utterances.   The aim was to describe the embodied nature of the interactions and collaborations and how they were coordinated.
• Results
• Body position was found to play a large role in game play, with participants orienting themselves based on the task they were attempting.  For example, when concentrating harder, they might scrunch their face or clench their fists.  Then, when not concentrating as hard, the gestures relaxed.  The researchers also noticed the addition of narratives that arose when giving instruction between players, which was more than the game required.  And finally, they noticed a certain level of "performance" that went along with the activity.
• Contents
• This paper begins by describing the need for better understanding of how the entire body works to support the brain's goals.  It then describes an experiment in which participants are asked to behave naturally while interacting with the 'mind-reading' technology, and their actions and gestures are closely analyzed.  The researchers found several behavioral patterns that were consistent between players.

Discussion
As a sci fi/fantasy fiction enthusiast, this sort of technology is particularly appealing to me because of its using technology to mimic mystical or unexplainable powers.   I had the opportunity to play a mindflex game once on campus during a fair, and I found it very intuitive.  To be honest, I would have been a terrible subject for this experiment because I didn't have any kind of 'flair' in my behavior.  I think the authors did a very good job, however, and look forward to seeing more of this technology.

Paper Reading #25: Twitinfo: aggregating and visualizing microblogs for event exploration

References
Twitinfo: aggregating and visualizing microblogs for event exploration by 

Adam Marcus, Michael S. Bernstein, Osama Badar, David R. Karger, Samuel Madden, Robert C. Miller.  Published in the CHI '11 Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems.

Author Bios

• Adam Marcus
• Michael S. Bernstein is a graduate student focusing on human-computer interaction at MIT in the CSAIL.  His research is on crowd-powered interfaces: interactive systems that embed human knowledge and activity.
• Osama Badar is currently a member of the CSAIL at MIT.
• David R. Karger is a member of the CSAIL in the EECS department at MIT.  He is interested in information retrieval and analysis of algorithms. 
• Samuel Madden is currently an associate professor in the EECS department at MIT.  His primary research is in database systems.
• Robert C. Miller is an associate professor in the EECS department at MIT and leads the User Interface Design Group.  His research interests include web automation and customization, automated text editing, end-user programming, usable security, and other issues in HCI.

Summary

• Hypothesis
• TwitInfo can provide a useful tool for summarizing and searching twitter for information about events and trends.
• Methods 
• The researchers asked 12 participants to use TwitInfo to research different aspects of a recent event.  During this part of the process they gathered usability feedback and observed which interface objects were useful or ignored.  The second part of the testing involved adding a time limit.  Participants were given 5 minutes to research the event using Twitinfo and then 5 minutes to compose a report about their findings.  At the end of the session, the participants were interviewed about their reactions to the Twitinfo system.
• Results
• They found that participants were able to reconstruct reasonably detailed information about events even without prior knowledge of it.  They found that when users were performing the freeform exploration they tended to explore the largest peak thoroughly and read tweets completely.  They also drilled in on the map and followed links to related articles.  Most of the tweets were only used to confirm event details rather than generate the information.  When the time constraint was introduced, the focus shifted to skimming peak labels for a broad sense of the event a chronology, and a few people honed in on only one or two links to outside news sources to minimize time spent searching through repeated information.
• Contents
• This article mainly spends time explaining how Twitinfo works and the details that went into its creation.  It describes the user testing and results, and identifies several key trends in how people use the tool.  

Discussion
This article was not particularly convincing to me; while the authors successfully created their product, it didn't seem as useful as they'd thought it might be.  Frankly, I can't imagine it being used other than as a way to garner general public opinion on events because it is simply much easier to search for related news articles.  It might potentially be useful in a smaller group setting, perhaps if a high school student wanted to read some first-hand posts about a fight that went down after lunch or something.

Paper Reading #24: Gesture avatar: a technique for operating mobile user interfaces using gestures

References

Gesture avatar: a technique for operating mobile user interfaces using gestures by Hao Lu and Yang Li. Published in the CHI '11 Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems.

Author Bios

• Yang Li is currently a Senior Research Scientist working for Google.  He spent time at the University of Washington as a research associate in computer science and engineering.  He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
• Hao Lu is currently a graduate student at University of Washington in Computer Science and Engineering.  He is also a member of the DUB Group.  

Summary

• Hypothesis
• Gesture Avatar can provide a useful, viable solution to the problem of imprecise finger input on touch-screen surfaces.  The paper also presents three separate hypothesis regarding GA's relation to Shift: 
• • (H1) Gesture Avatar will be  slower than Shift on larger targets, but faster on small targets. 
  • (H2) Gesture Avatar will have fewer errors than Shift. 
  • (H3) Mobile situations such as walking will decrease the time performance and increase the error rate of Shift, but have little influence on Gesture Avatar
• Methods
• Participants were asked to test both Shift and Gesture Avatar, with half of the group starting on one technology and the other half starting with the other.  Participants were also asked to complete tasks both sitting and walking.  To begin with, they were asked to select different targets of varying size, complexity, and ambiguity and and performance time was measured between the tap of the start target and the selection of the final target.  The researchers aimed to address both letter ambiguity and and commonness by using 24 different letters and controlling the distance between the objects and the number of letters used.
• Results
• Gesture Avatar was much slower than Shift when target size was 20px, but faster than shift when target size decreased to 10px.  The two techniques were approximately equal at 15px, and both techniques increased in speed with larger target sizes.  Shift with MobileState was faster when sitting than when walking, but Gesture Avatar was roughly the same between the two activities.
• Contents
• This paper presents and explores Gesture Avatar, an application designed to combat the issue of imprecision from finger-based touch screen technology.  The authors developed their product on an Android and tested it against the current Shift technology to better understand where it was limited and where it excelled.  Overall, their results match their hypotheses and the product itself received a positive reception from test subjects.

Discussion
I think the researchers did a very good job of testing and presenting this project.  I am glad to see that there is significant strides being taken in this area of precision as it is a prevalent issue among touch-screens today.  I don't have any problems with the paper itself; it is well written, thoroughly researched and tested, and logically presented.

Paper Reading #23: User-defined Motion Gestures for Mobile Interaction

References
 User-defined Motion Gestures for Mobile Interaction by Jaime Ruiz, Yang Li, Edward Lank.  Published in the CHI '11 Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems.


Author Bios

• Jaime Ruiz is currently a fifth-year doctoral student in the HCI Lab in the Cheriton School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo.
• Yang Li is currently a Senior Research Scientist working for Google.  He spent time at the University of Washington as a research associate in computer science and engineering.  He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
• Edward Lank holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Queen's University.  He is currently  an Assistant Professor in the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science at the University of Waterloo

Summary 

• Hypothesis
• Although modern smartphones contain sensors to detect three-dimensional motion, there is a need for better understanding of best practices in motion-gesture design.  
• Methods
• 20 participants were asked to design and perform a motion gesture with a smartphone device that could be used to execute a task on the smartphone.  These gestures were then analyzed and several were selected to be included in the rest of the study.  In the following experiment, the participants were given a set of tasks and and a set of motion gestures.  The participants performed each gesture and rated them based on how well the gesture matched the task and how easy it was to perform.  
• Results
• Participants tended to design gestures that mimicked normal motions, such as putting the phone to their ear.  They also were able to relate interacting with the phone to interacting with a physical object, such as turning a phone upside down to hang up like the old phones.  Tasks that were considered opposites always resulted in similar gestures, but performed in opposite directions.  A diagram of the resulting gesture set is shown at the top of this post.
• Contents
• The paper begins by running an experiment to determine how participants feel gestures ought to be mapped to make them easy and intuitive.  The results were fairly consistent, though some unexpected.  After the research, the paper describes a second question: the set of parameters manipulated by the participants.  They determine that there are two different classes of taxonomy dimensions: gesture mapping and physical characteristics.  Gesture mapping can be further interpreted based on metaphor, physical, symbolic, and abstract.

Discussion

I felt that this was a fascinating read and is a good example of progress in the mobile interaction arena.  The hypothesis and testing was a lot more open ended than many of the previous papers, but I feel that this approach lent itself to a better understanding overall.  I think the authors achieved their research goals, but I would also be interested to see follow up studies to verify their results.  

Paper Reading #22: Mid-air pan-and-zoom on wall-sized displays

References
Mid-air pan-and-zoom on wall-sized displays by Mathieu Nancel, Julie Wagner, Emmanuel Pietriga, Olivier Chapuis, Wendy Mackay.  Published in the CHI '11 Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems.


Author Bios

• Mathieu Nancel is currently a PhD student in HCI in the Université Paris-Sud XI under the supervision of Michel Beaudouin-Lafon and Emmanuel Pietriga.
• Julie Wagner is a PhD student in the insitu lab in Paris, working on new tangible interfaces and new interaction paradigms at large public displays.
• Emmanuel Pietriga is currently a full-time research scientist working for INRIA Saclay - Île-de-France.  He is also the interim leader of INRIA team In Situ.
• Olivier Chapuis is a Research Scientist at LRI.  He is also a member of and team co-head of the InSitu research team.  
• Wendy Mackay is a Research Director with INRIA Saclay in France,  though currently on sabbatical at Stanford University. She is in charge of the research group, InSitu. 

Summary 

• Hypothesis
• The main hypothesis of the paper is that there is a need for more research on complex tasks when dealing with high resolution wall-sized displays.  The authors made seven smaller hypotheses about how people best interact with tools.
1. Two hands are faster than one
2. Two-handed gestures should be more accurate and easier to use.
3.  Linear gestures should map better to the zooming component, but should eventually be slower because of clutching.
4. Users will prefer clutch-free circular gestures.
5. Techniques using fingers should be faster than those requiring larger muscle groups.
6. 1D path gestures should be faster, with fewer overshoots than techniques with lesser haptic feedback.
7. 3D gestures will be more tiring.
• Methods
• They conducted an experiment with 12 participants based on three primary factors: handedness, gesture, and guidance.  They controlled for potential distance effects by introducing the Distance between two consecutive targets as a secondary factor. The pan-zoom task involved navigating through two groups of concentric circles, starting at a high zoom level and zooming out until the neighboring group is visible.  Then they pan and zoom until they reach the target group.
• Results
• The data from the pan-zoom task strongly supported the first hypothesis, as well as numbers 5 and 6.  They were surprised to find that their third hypothesis was not supported; linear gestures are faster than circular ones.  Finally, as they expected, participants found that hypothesis 7 held true, and that IDPath guidance was least tiring but 3DFree was most tiring.
• Contents
• The paper discusses how users might best interact with a large screen by studying several different motions and commands.  They wanted to observe ease of use, causes of fatigue, and how simple or complex the interactions might be.  They proposed several ideas at the beginning to guide their research, and then performed an experiment to highlight the key points.  They found that while most of their hypotheses were supported, they had judged one or two points inaccurately.

Discussion
    I think this was a very well put together paper.  I feel that the authors did a good job defining their parameters and goals, and then delivering the results thoroughly.  I think it would have been interesting if they had done a little bit more experimentation, maybe trying a few different approaches to get the information they were looking for.  However, overall I was impressed by the research and findings.

Paper Reading #21: Human model evaluation in interactive supervised learning

References
Human model evaluation in interactive supervised learning by Rebecca Fiebrink, Perry R. Cook, and Daniel Trueman. Published in the CHI '11 Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems


Author Bios
Rebecca Fiebrink is currently an assistant professor in Computer Science at Princeton University. She holds a PhD from Princeton and was a postdoc for most of 2011 at the University of Washington.
Perry R. Cook is a professor emeritus at Princeton University in Computer Science and the Department of Music.   He is no longer teaching, but still researches, lectures, and makes music.
Daniel Trueman is a musician, primarily with the fiddle and the laptop.   He currently teaches composition at Princeton University.


Summary

• Hypothesis
• Because model evaluation plays a special role in interactive machine learning systems, it is important to develop a better understanding of what model criteria are most important to users.
• Methods
• The authors performed three studies of people applying supervised learning in their work.  In the first study they led a design process with seven composers to focus on refining the Wekinator.   Participants met regularly to discuss the software in relation to their work and suggest improvements.  In the second study, students were told to use the Wekinator in an assignment focused on supervised learning in interactive music performance systems.   Specifically, they were asked to use an input device to create two gesturally controlled music performance systems.  The third study was a case study completed with a professional musician to build a gesture recognition system for a sensor-equipped cello bow.  The goal of this study was to build a set of gesture classifiers to capture data from the bow and produce musically appropriate labels.
• Results
• In the first study participants found that the algorithms used to control the sound were difficult to control in a musically satisfying way using either a GUI or an explicitly controlled sequence.  Unlike the first study, the second and third both made some use of cross validation.  Users in the second study indicated that they considered high levels of cross validation accuracy to be indicative of good performance, and made use of it as such.  In the third study, however, it was used more as a quick way to check.  The people in all three studies used direct validation much more frequently than cross validation.  The direct validation was broken down into six categories: correctness, cost, decision boundary shape, label confidence and posterior shape,  and complexity and unexpectedness.
• Contents
• The researchers present work studying how users evaluate and interact with supervised learning systems.  They examine what sort of criteria is used in the evaluation and present observations of different techniques, such as cross-validation and direct validation.  The purpose of the research is both to make judgments of algorithm performance and improve training models, in addition to providing more effective training data.

Discussion
     I think this paper did a very good job of presenting findings and being thorough with the research and methodology.  By my estimation the researchers did accomplish their goal of gathering useful data regarding evaluation of supervised learning systems, and I think that this work will be very beneficial in the future.  I did not find any gaping faults with the paper itself; it presents its purpose, carries out the research and gives the findings, and even discusses potential benefits and uses.

Paper Reading #20 : The Aligned Rank Transform

References
The Aligned Rank Transform for Nonparametric Factorial Analyses Using Only Anova Procedures by Jacob O. Wobbrock, Leah Findlater, Darren Gergle, and James J. Higgins.  Published in the CHI '11 Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems.


Author Bios

• Jacob O. Wobbrock is currently an Associate Professor in the Information School and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington. 
• Leah Findlater is a postdoctoral researcher in The Information School, working with Dr. Jacob Wobbrock. She holds a PhD from the University of British Colombia.
• Darren Gergle  is an Associate Professor at Northwestern University and has a PhD from Carnegie Mellon University.
• James J. Higgins is currently a Professor at Kansas State University and holds a PhD from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Summary
Hypothesis
    The Aligned Rank Transform is a useful and easily accessible tool for pre-processing nonparametric data so that it can be seen and manipulated on a level beyond current nonparametrics tests.

Methods
     The ART procedure consists of 5 steps: 

1. Computing residuals: for each raw response Y, compute residual = Y - cell mean
2. Computing estimated effects for all main and interaction effects: these are calculated such that Ai is the mean response Yi for rows where factor A is at level i. AiBj is the mean response Yij for rows where factor A is at level i and factor B is at level j. And so on.
3. computing the aligned response Y', assigning average ranks Y'' where Y' = residual + estimated effect.
4. performing a full-factorial ANOVA on Y''.

Results
     The paper re-examined three different studies using their ART procedures to demonstrate its usefulness.  The first case showed how ART can uncover interaction effects that may not be seen with Friedman tests.  The second case showed how the ART can free analysts from the distributional assumptions of ANOVA.  The last case demonstrated the nonparametric testing of repeated measures data.  
Contents
     The authors presented their Aligned Rank Transform tool, which useful for the nonparametric analysis of factorial experiments and makes use of the familiar F-test.  They discuss the exact process in detail, then go on to show three examples of where it could prove useful and effective with real data.


Discussion
I am not particularly qualified to comment much on the usefulness or ingenuity of this project, but it seems to me like the authors did a fine job of creating a tool or technique to handle data that was previously more cumbersome and less obvious.  I cannot find any faults with the paper, and I think that they did a good job of selecting several different test cases to highlight particular areas of usefulness with the ART.  

Paper Reading #19 : Reflexivity in Digital Anthropology

References
     Reflexivity in Digital Anthropology by Jennifer A. Rode.  Published in the CHI '11 Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems.


Author Bio
     Jennifer Rode is currently an Assistant Professor at Drexel's School of Information in Pennsylvania.  She is also a fellow in Digital Anthropology at University College London.  She holds her PhD from the University of California, Irvine.

Summary

• Hypothesis   Rode believes that digital anthropologists can contribute to the field of HCI by writing reflexive ethnographies, which is different from other more positivist approaches.

• Methods  -  This paper was more of a discussion than an actual research and development project, so the author did not have any methods to present.   

• Results  -   The author posits that digital anthropologists are not studying technology, but rather studying in the context of technology.  She also clarifies some of the traditional approaches to ethnographic study, namely Positivist versus Reflexivity.  In addition to the approaches, she described some of the writing styles, specifically Realistic, Confessional, and Impressionistic. 
• Positivist: Data is collected, studied, and tested with the aim of producing an unambiguous result.  
• Reflexivity:  According to Burawoy, reflexivity embraces intervention as an opportunity to gather data, it aims to understand how the data gathering impacts the data itself, and reflexive practitioners look for patterns and attempt to draw out theories. 
• Realistic: 
  the need for  experimental 
  author(ity), its typical forms, the native’s point of view, and interpretive omnipotence.
• Confessional: 
  broadly provides  a written 
  form for  the  ethnographer  to  engage  with  the  nagging doubts surrounding the study and discuss them textually with the aim of demystifying the fieldwork process
• Impressionistic: based on dramatic recall and a well told story.

• Content  -  The author showed how ethnography has various forms and orientations, and how reflexivity can contribute to design and theory in HCI.  She also describes three forms of anthropological writing and the key elements of the technique.  Finally, she describes how ethnography is actually used in the design process of computer-human interaction.

Discussion
This paper, while surely valuable in its field, is extremely hard to read.  There is a lot of information and it seems to me that it could have all been summarized much more succinctly.  I don't know who she expects to actually read the entire paper all the way through and understand everything that she is going on about, because it is simply too much.  The paper serves as a good overall synopsis of a lot of different approaches in the ethnographic realm, but I feel it has virtually no relevance outside of that.

Paper Reading #18: Biofeedback Game Design

References
Biofeedback Game Design: Using Direct and Indirect Physiological Control to Enhance Game Interaction by Lennart E. Nacke, Michael Kalyn, Calvin Lough, and Regan L. Mandryk.  Published in the CHI '11 Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems.


Author Bios

• Lennart E. Nacke is currently an Assistant Professor for HCI and Game Science at the Faculty of Business and Information Technology at UOIT.  He holds a PhD in game development.
• Michael Kalyn is currently a graduate student in Computer Engineering at the University of Saskatchewan.  He spent the summer working for Dr. Mandryk in areas related to interfacing sensors and affective feedback.
• Calvin Lough is currently a student in at the University of Saskatchewan.
• Regan L. Mandryk is currently an Assistant Professor in the Interaction Lab in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Saskatchewan.  

Summary

Hypothesis

• The authors propose a system of direct and indirect physiological sensor input to augment game control.

Methods

• The researchers wanted to answer two main questions: 1. How do users respond when physiological sensors are used to augment rather than replace game controllers?   And 2. Which types of physiological sensors (indirect versus direct) work best for which in-game tasks?      They designed a shooter game that uses a traditional game controller as the primary input and augmented it with physiological sensors.  In the actual study participants played with three combinations of physiological and traditional input. Two of the game conditions mapped two direct and two indirect sensors to the four game mechanics, while the third condition used no physiological input.  The physiological sensors used as direct control were respiration, EMG on the leg, and temperature. The indirectly controlled sensors included GSR and EKG.  All participants played all conditions and filled out a questionnaire.  They were also given instructions regarding how to control the physiological sensors.

Results

• The participants seemed to prefer when controls matched a natural input, such as flexing the legs for more jumping power.  Overall the subjects seemed to appreciate the added level of involvement, but there was some concern that it made gameplay more complicated.  When asked about the novelty, users agreed that it was a very novel idea and that some of the controls had a little bit of a learning curve.  However, once the curve was conquered the overall experience was more rewarding.  Regarding preferred sensors: For target size increases and  flamethrower length, players RESP to GSR. For speed and jump height they preferred EMG to EKG. For controlling the weather and speed of the yeti, players preferred TEMP to EKG. 

Contents

• This article delves into an area of gaming that has plenty of room to be explored.  Namely, physiological interaction.  The topics presented in this research focus on learning how people react to different types of sensors and which kinds are preferable in given situations.  It also explored the gap between traditional controls and learning to adapt to the new sensing controls.  The overall feedback was positive, but there were some areas that might have been a little un-intuitive or difficult to pick up on.

Discussion
I am very excited about this direction in the world of gaming and I think there will be a great market for it once some of the details are hammered out.  As for the paper itself, I think it did a reasonably good job of laying some foundation for future work, but I think they could have gone a little bit further.  For example, I would have liked to have seen a broader variety of sensors and perhaps a more diverse test group, although technically their target audience would probably (initially) be similar to the actual participants.

Paper Reading #17 : Privacy Risks Emerging from the Adoption of Innocuous Wearable Sensors in the Mobile Environment

References
Privacy Risks Emerging from the Adoption of Innocuous Wearable Sensors in the Mobile Environment by Andrew Raij, Santosh Kumar, Animikh Ghosh, and Mani Srivastava.   Published in the CHI '11 Proceedings of the 2011 annual conference on Human factors in computing systems.


Author Bios

• Andrew Raij is a Post-Doc Fellow in the Wireless Sensors and Mobile Ad Hoc Networks Lab at the University of Memphis.
• Santosh Kumar is currently an associate professor at the University of Memphis and leads the WiSe MANet Lab.
• Animikh Ghosh is currently a Junior Research Associate at Infosys Labs in India and spent time as a researcher in the WiSeMANet Lab at the University of Memphis.
• Mani Srivastava is currently a professor in the Electrical Engineering Dept. and Computer Science Dept. at UCLA. 

Summary
Hypothesis
With wearable sensors becoming more popular, there is an increasing concern for information about potentially private behaviors becoming more accessible and more easily abused.
Methods
The researchers divided participants into two groups.  One would be monitored for several days and have some basic information recorded, the other group acted as a control group and had no such monitoring.  Both groups filled out a survey before the study began to indicate their feelings on certain aspects of potentially private behavior.  The group that was monitored for a few days was shown the results of the observation period and given some of the conclusions that were drawn from these results.  They were then asked to fill out another survey with their new perspective.
Results
The researchers found that people were least concerned about privacy when the data was not directly and obviously their own.  The group that was not monitored expressed a lower level of concern than the group that was monitored.  Also, the group that was monitored expressed an increased level of concern after the observation period had ended and they were able to see the results.  The researchers also noted that knowing who would have access to the data made a significant difference in the amount that people would care about privacy.  People tended to be more worried about data being available to a larger number of people, or the public in general.  Participants also were more concerned when a timeline or schedule of behavior was established.  Overall, the two most important areas of concern to people were those involving stress and conversation periods.
Contents
After establishing that there is increasing need for privacy awareness, the authors of the paper performed an experiment to find out how much people actually care about what sort of information they might be providing, even when the information was collected just through basic sensors.  


Discussion
This paper is a little bit different from the others we have been reading as it is primarily a research project about people's reactions to a current issue rather than a specific technology.  I think that the researchers did manage to achieve the goals that they had outlined in the beginning, but there is a lot of room for follow up in this area.  The fact is, as technology continues to advance so will the capacity for its abuse.  I think what we will find in the future is that people simply must maintain constant vigilance if they really want to protect their privacy.